Review of the Double Tree by Hilton – Stages
The Mayfield Inn has been long-standing icon in Edmonton and we were all happy to see this long, overdue facelift of the facility. As you walk in, nothing looks familiar and that’s a compliment! They have done an outstanding job of creating a warm and inviting space.
Kim had booked to take her Mom here for Mother’s Day some time ago and since our plans changed with my wife and her family, Kim suggested I too book there. Kim reserved a table for 11:00 and ours was for 12:30. I was just happy to get in somewhere on short notice!
Just prior to leaving, I received a text from Kim saying, “Not impressed so far. They haven’t even started brunch yet!”. This was at 11:20. The next text a while later said that the food was cold and that she couldn’t even drink her mimosa it was so strong. Fast forward to 12:30 and we arrive just prior to Kim and her Mom leaving so we chatted for a while. Kim wasn’t happy with the food but her Mom seemed to think it was pretty good. I wasn’t worried as not much disappoints me when it comes to food! 😉
My wife, daughter and myself get seated (son was at baseball) and they bring my wife a carnation. A very nice touch for all Moms that attended the brunch buffet today. Starving, we head to the fantastic selection of various breakfast items and start loading up our plates. My wife suggests to dig from the bottom of the big chrome serving pans to get to the hot stuff! Loading up on scrambled eggs, various meats, shrimp, an interesting looking eggs benny and a couple slabs of prime rib, I sit down… Basically every item is almost “cool” including the prime rib that was just cut for me.
I order a coffee and a mimosa (thinking Kim isn’t really much a drinker so how bad could it be…), my wife orders a tea and our daughter a non-alcoholic drink. All of our food was lukewarm but with a buffet, you can’t really send it back. All trays were almost full so we assumed they were replaced recently. My $9 mimosa arrives and it’s horrible and SO strong. I swear one glass of that you would need a designated driver!! I’ve never had Grand Marnier in one before and now I know why. I went up to the buffet to get some juice and fruit to stuff in the glass which helped but I could only get half way through it.
All of us went up twice and nothing really improved from a temperature perspective. Most of the food tasted good but it could have been so much better… Near the end of our meal I receive another text from Kim… “HOLY CRAP, that was expensive for 2 people!” To which I reply… “Dare I ask?” I hadn’t enquired previously as I suspected it wasn’t a $15 meal. I was however very disappointed to spend $170 including tip on 3 mediocre meals. I felt bad our son couldn’t join us right up until the point of receiving the bill and then I was almost thankful! I have no issue spending money on a nice meal as we often spend that at the Banff Springs hotel when we go there for brunch. The difference was, we had no mountain view, no amazing dining room, no outstanding service where they call you by your last name when you arrive and most importantly, little in the way of value for our money. A major disappointment!
The one interesting note here was that both Kim’s Mom and my wife had significant stomach pain shortly after. I’m not sure what caused it that they both had but the rest of us were fine…
Service was good and our server was attentive. It was strange that in between our first and second plates, our silverware was all removed from the table while we were at the buffet even though none of us left them on our plates? I found that extremely odd in a buffet setting!
Normally I try to mix these reviews with as much “positive” as I can but I’m really struggling to do that here. It was just an average room with decent service and cold food at $42 per person. The value just wasn’t there. If the price of their buffet is the same every weekend, I can’t say as I would attempt it again which is unfortunate as a buffet brunch is my favourite meal.
Between Kim’s experience and mine, we give it a 2/10 for overall value.
